The Observation Game
by somewhereinthedreams
Summary: Beach football fluff.


**A/N: I mentioned to lizzysocks13 that I wanted to work on something light and she suggested beach football. And somehow that morphed into this. This takes place somewhere during 1x05, "O-Mouth." If you squint hard enough, it could be completely canon and fall somewhere in the episode. Let me know what you think.**

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"Do you think he has a chance?" Charlie asked, motioning to Johnny as he sprinted up to a pair of women, with Mike jogging after him, holding a football.

"Probably not," Paige decided, stretching out her legs so her toes rested in the sand. "I've lost count of how many times he's struck out today." She closed her eyes, content to sit here and soak up some sun. She actually had today off and her plans for today consisted of working on her tan and not thinking about weed strains. She loved her job. Loved being busy. But it was nice to have a break. She was just happy that most of her roommates were free this morning and she got a chance to hang out with them. It felt like forever since their schedules matched up, despite yesterday's impromptu morning football game with Johnny and Mike.

Paige's eyes shot open when she felt ice cold water splash on her stomach. "What the hell?" She grabbed her shirt and wiped off her stomach, glaring at Charlie. "What's wrong with you?"

"You don't want to miss this," Charlie said, unapologetically setting down her water bottle.

Paige propped herself up on her elbows, watching as Johnny failed miserably to convince the two women to give him the time of day. She couldn't hear what they were saying, but whatever Johnny's pickup line was, it wasn't working. She could read the redhead's body language. She was agitated. Her hand was on her hip and her smile was tight. But her friend was checking out Mike. Her interest piqued, Paige pushed her sunglasses on top of her head and leaned towards Charlie. "Ginger's about this close to slapping Johnny."

"Wait for it. 5 - 4 - 3 - 2 - or not," Charlie said, her voice filled with disappointment when the redhead grabbed her friend's arm and started to walk away. "That didn't end how I thought it would."

Johnny flashed a smile at the women and Mike waved. The brunette's gaze lingered on Mike for a few seconds before her friend dragged her away.

"But still, no number."

"Looks like Mike almost got a number."

"He's supposed to be Johnny's wingman. Which means help Johnny get a number, not get his own."

"So what's going on with you two?"

"Nothing. We're friends." Maybe she hadn't had a lot of free time to spend with her roommates these past few weeks, but apparently everyone else had time to ask her about Mike. Because apparently it was impossible for them to just be friends. At least according to everyone they lived with.

"Just friends?" Charlie asked, giving her a look that said she didn't believe her.

"Yes! Just friends. Mike's cute and that's all." Paige grabbed her water bottle and took a drink. Okay, so maybe she had a little crush on Mike. But it was completely harmless. He was attractive. Fun to flirt with. She wouldn't mind sleeping with him. But it would make things too complicated. Having a one night stand with a roommate would be a horrible idea. Besides, she barely knew Mike. But on the other hand, he wasn't planning to stay out here after he finished his case. HIs plan was to hop the first plane back to DC as soon as he go the go ahead from his supervisor. They could have a summer fling. No harm, no foul. Except for the part where things could blow up in their faces.

"Interesting," Charlie slowly said. "You know, I saw you."

"You saw me?" Paige put her sunglasses back on, her eyes following the boys as they started tossing the football around again. Johnny tackled Mike and they wrestled in the sand for a few moments, before Mike rolled them over and jumped up. Johnny grabbed his ankle, pulling him back to the ground. The pair was laughing as they wrestled, and finally Johnny broke away and ran down the beach with Mike trailing after him. Mike may go running every morning, but Johnny was definitely faster. "I'm right here, of course you saw me."

"The friend of the girl Johnny was trying to pick up? The brunette? You noticed she was interested in Mike and you got jealous."

"What? I was not jealous," Paige insisted, her eyes widening slightly. Curious to see how things would play out. Maybe. But she wasn't jealous. She wasn't carrying some torch for Mike. She didn't spend her days pining for Mike. And her nights certainly weren't spent fantasizing about him. Although, now that she was thinking about it, she wouldn't mind if he tackled her like he did yesterday. Pinned her to the ground and had his way with her. Mike could be so focused, obsessive. She wondered what it would be like to have him completely focused on her when his one goal was her pleasure. That hand gripper he always carried had to be good for something other than faster reflexes.

"So you say." Charlie motioned towards the pair, "Looks like they found some young admirers. What do you think? Think we should go help them out?"

Johnny and Mike had caught the attention of three young women. They might be college freshmen at best, but her guess was that they were barely old enough to drive. Johnny threw the football and Mike ran down the beach to catch it. Mike looked towards their direction, waving as he gave a not so subtle glance towards the young trio. "Let them sweat," Paige said, reaching for her water. "Besides, I'm enjoying the view." It wasn't a crime to check out her roommates. Both guys had ditched their shirts earlier and she could admit they were both attractive. Lean. Muscular. A little sweaty from running around this past hour. And that didn't even take into account that they were both deadly. She had a weakness for bad boys, but while Johnny was a far cry from being dangerous, Mike was an even farther cry. But just because they weren't bad boys didn't mean she couldn't look.

"He likes you," Charlie said, pushing up her sunglasses. She shielded her eyes from the sun for a few seconds before putting them back on.

"He has a crush." Maybe her crush on Mike was a secret. At least she thought it was a secret. Maybe it wasn't. But Mike's crush on her was something the whole house was aware of.

"You two would be cute together. All blonde and pretty. You'd be one of those sickenly attractive couples. You should make a move."

"I fixed him up with Abby." Charlie was right, Mike was pretty. Hot, but definitely pretty. Again, not usually her type. But for him, she would be willing to make an exception. Maybe. She wasn't sure she could ever be with a guy that used more hair products than she did. Wasn't that a rule or something? Don't date a guy that spent more time on his hair than she did?

"He can be unfixed. Besides, he's hooked on you."

Paige laughed, "You said so yourself, it's a crush. I'm like what the first girl he met out here? He'll get over it."

"He met me first," Charlie said, trying to disprove her theory.

"You were dressed like a junkie and he pulled his gun on you! That doesn't count!"

The boys continued throwing the football around and were slowly moving down the beach closer to them, but their trio of admirers relocated so they could continue their observation.

"Okay, so he saw you - all dressed up - "

"Not like a junkie. I looked hot! Of course he had a crush. I was spilling out of my dress, he checked me out in the mirror in the bathroom when I leaned over. He could barely string a sentence together." Mike was nervous when he met her. Sure, he was still getting used to being undercover, but she saw the way he looked at her that night. When she was on stage. In the bathroom. He liked her. And if she was being completely honest with herself, she'd admit that she adjusted her breasts in the mirror just so he would watch her. Slapped his ass on her way out of the bathroom, not just on impulse but because she wanted to. "He probably didn't date when he was at Quantico. He's having a dry spell or something."

"He saw you looking hot, shaking your ass on stage," Charlie continued.

"I was not shaking my ass!"

"OKay, he saw you on stage, doing your thing and - "

"You're making me sound like a stripper!" Paige protested, laughing. "I was singing karaoke. In Korean!" She should get bonus points for singing in a foreign language she wasn't fluent in!

"You call that singing? You're lucky you looked hot."

The pair erupted in a fit of giggles. Laughing, Paige swatted Charlie's arm. "So maybe I'm not the greatest singer, but I have stage presence."

"Yes! Stage presence. So much stage presence that the moment Mike noticed you, he was so far gone, I had to remind him that he was supposed to be my fake boyfriend."

"Mike's distractible, he's like a puppy."

"But if all that energy could be focused, the results could be explosive."

Paige turned, a little disturbed that Charlie had wondered the same thing about Mike's focus, but she would never admit it. "That has to be the worst sex metaphor ever. Never say that again."

"Come on, aren't you curious? Just a little?"

"I - " her eyes focused on the boys, laughing because Johnny's pass was too long and Mike missed. She could hear them bickering about whose fault it was. But before they had a chance to chase down the ball, one of their admirers jumped up and grabbed the football to hand it to Johnny. "Looks like Johnny could use a save from jailbait. I really don't want to spend my day off bailing him out of jail. Let's go." Paige jumped up and grabbed her suntan lotion, eager to end this conversation.

Charlie shook her head, trailing behind her. "This isn't over!"

By now the two other girls had joined their friend and all three were eagerly chatting up Mike and Johnny. Apparently, Johnny's tattoos seemed to be the topic of conversation, because one of the girls was pointing at them, clearly asking what they meant. She started to make a beeline towards Johnny, just to show Charlie she wasn't into Mike, but at the last second she decided to approach Mike, because Charlie wanted her to approach Johnny to prove she was somehow avoiding Mike. She would show Charlie she could flirt Mike and it would just be harmless fun. "Mike, you said you'd do my back," Paige called, stopping about ten feet away from the group, waving the bottle of suntan lotion at Mike. She slowly smiled, knowing that the young women were watching her and by now had seen Charlie as well. Pushing her sunglasses atop her head she looked at each of them, giving them a dismissive look, before focusing her gaze on Mike, letting them know he was taken. Charlie could save Johnny. Mike was hers. Well, not hers. Not really. Just for the moment.

Mike flashed an apologetic smile at the trio before sprinting over towards her, clasping his hands together in a praying motion as a silent thank you. His eyes met hers and for a second she felt butterflies in her stomach, but she quickly dismissed that thought. She was probably dehydrated or something.

"Thanks for the save."

"I really didn't want to spend my day off bailing you two out of jail."

"That would be a waste of a day off." Mike grabbed the bottle of suntan lotion from her and opened it.

"What are you doing?" Paige asked as Mike motioned for her to turn around.

"Your back." Mike brushed aside her hair and squirted some lotion onto his hands, rubbing it in his hands for a few seconds before he started applying it, kneading it into her skin. Her eyes closed as his fingers gently applied pressure. This was more of a massage than a friend applying suntan lotion, but she wasn't complaining. Despite the heat, she shivered as Mike lightly brushed his fingers along her spine. Her eyes shot open as Mike swept his fingers underneath the strings of her bikini top. He wouldn't. A thrill shot through her at the thought of him taking things a step further. She was this close to dragging him inside. Placing his hands on her waist, he slipped his thumbs underneath the strings on her bikini bottoms, rubbing small circles along her hips. "You should probably lay down if you don't want tan lines," Mike whispered.

"This is a public beach!" Charlie called.

"You want me to do your back?" Johnny asked. "I can go grab Paige's suntan lotion. Doesn't look like Mike's really using it."

"No, I don't want you to do my back! We're over here rescuing you two, because Paige didn't want to talk about Mike." Even if she wouldn't admit it, Paige had a crush on Mike and it was only a matter of time before those two hooked up. According to Paige, Mike was into Abby. But judging how close those Mike and Paige were standing, they had given up on the pretense of personal space. Charlie was pretty sure rubbing suntan lotion on someone's back didn't mean possessively caressing every inch of exposed skin, which is what Mike had been doing for at least the past ten minutes. She saw the glare Mike gave the pair of guys that were checking out Paige as they walked past. Saw how Mike stepped closer to Paige, moving his hands to her waist. Not to mention she really couldn't see where one of Mike's hands was wandering. Whatever Mike felt for Paige, it was definitely more than a crush.

"So how long before they start sleeping together?"

"Paige is stubborn. By introducing him to Abby, she made it so she wasn't an option. She's not going to want to interfere."

"Mike hasn't slept with Abby yet," Johnny said. "Their second date was the same night everything went down with Eddie."

Charlie continued watching Mike and Paige with interest. By now Paige's back was sufficiently covered with suntan lotion, but Mike hadn't stepped away from her. Hadn't stopped his hands from wandering all over her back. Didn't look like Mike was looking to take things further with Abby when he couldn't keep his hands off Paige. Not to mention that Paige hadn't done a thing to stop him despite all her protests about just thinking Mike was cute. "Doesn't sound like there's much to interfere with then. I give them by the end of next week."

THE END

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